


Swirling. Twirling.

by theoriginalcheeesecake



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoriginalcheeesecake/pseuds/theoriginalcheeesecake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! </p>
<p>Happy Klaroline Vacation! This is pre-canon, the Mikaelsons never moved away from New Orleans fully. They moved around a bit, but they remained royalty, and prolific there. However, is kind reasonably canon compliant. </p>
<p>This idea was inspired by the Charles Camille Saint-Saëns classic, Danse Macabre, I definitely advise listening to that, and thank you to the person who put me onto that piece of music. You know who you are.</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Swirling. Twirling.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [caramelmarkiato (klarolunatic)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klarolunatic/gifts).



> Hello! 
> 
> Happy Klaroline Vacation! This is pre-canon, the Mikaelsons never moved away from New Orleans fully. They moved around a bit, but they remained royalty, and prolific there. However, is kind reasonably canon compliant. 
> 
> This idea was inspired by the Charles Camille Saint-Saëns classic, Danse Macabre, I definitely advise listening to that, and thank you to the person who put me onto that piece of music. You know who you are.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

Caroline was eight-years-old when her father first walked out.

_ It was for the best _ , her mother managed to choke, as she tried to soothe Caroline’s hurt cries night after night. But it was hard for little Caroline to believe that, when all she ever saw from her mother was the desperately sad expression of a woman whose life was falling apart.

_ It was for the best _ , her father crooned over the phone, as he tried to ease her pain day after day. But it was difficult for Caroline to see when she couldn’t understand why he had gone.

The first few months, ruined Caroline. She couldn’t bear living with her mother so down and she couldn’t bear living without her father at all. She wouldn’t even crack a smile as October dawned.

Before that year, Caroline had always counted down the days until October the first, because then there was only 10 days until her birthday! And  _ then  _ only 21 days after that until her favourite holiday of the whole year. Halloween.

To other kids, the best holiday was Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or even the 4 th of July. But not Caroline. For her, it had always been Halloween. Because every Halloween, against all the odds, Liz managed to get the night off, and, for one night a year, they would be a duty-free, happy, nuclear, picture perfect family. Plus there was free candy. And costumes.

But not that year.

Caroline sat, sad-faced, all throughout her birthday, and didn’t even cross off the days until Halloween.

Liz may have been struggling with her own demons, workloads, and burdens, but she knew something had to be done or risk Caroline falling into a terrible hole, one that a small child wouldn’t be able to climb out of so easily.

So, she swallowed her pride, and called Bill.

Halloween in New Orleans would cheer Caroline up, surely.  

xxx

Halloween.

Halloween in  _ New Orleans _ .

Caroline could hardly believe it when her mother told her she was taking a  _ whole week  _ off school, just to stay with her dad over her favourite holiday.

She felt a small pang of loss, knowing her mother wouldn’t be coming. But Caroline had seen pictures of what went on in New Orleans at Halloween, and she couldn’t help but be off the charts excited.

As Halloween morning dawned, Caroline donned her trick-or-treat dress – she was being a princess  _ obviously  _ – even though her father told her wait until at least 3pm. And it was barely 2:30, when Caroline started hammering her father to start the candy-getting tradition. When 5pm rolled around, Bill finally gave in, and Caroline squealed so loud, half the city’s population would have heard her.

Caroline skipped down the streets of the city getting all sorts of teeth-rotting, diabetes-inducing happiness that she would be able to munch on for months to come.

She felt happy.

For the first time in months.

She bounced ahead of her dad a way, as he got talking to someone from his work – Stephen – when she came to a house.

For some reason, the house was both forbidding and welcoming. Any other day Caroline would have gone past the high, scary iron gates, but there was something pulling her in.

All by herself, the little girl sidled towards the big wooden doors.

And she knocked.

xxx

“I swear to god!” Klaus roared, as there was  _ yet another  _ knock at his front door.

How in the  _ hell _ did people  _ not  _ know to keep their distance from his house? He was  _ Klaus Mikaelson _ the  _ original hybrid  _ the  _ most powerful supernatural creature in the entire world _ . How did so many small children ignore their parents’ warnings and knock upon his door?

Klaus stormed towards the front door furiously, ready to rip the throat out of the small weasel – age and consequences be damned – but when he flung the door open, a tiny blonde girl stood before him, with the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen.

There was a tug on his heart strings, a feeling he’d never felt before for anyone. It was a feeling he’d been waiting a millennium to feel, and it hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Trick or treat!” the little girl sung, excitedly.

He knew what it must mean. He knew who this girl was. But he never dreamed that, when he’d finally meet her, she would be but a little  _ human  _ girl.

He wanted to feel gypped, angry, that he was cheated, that  _ his  _ mate, the one he’d waited a millennium to find, was nothing more than ordinary. But he just couldn’t. Not when every syllable that fell out of her precious mouth made him smile, not when the sound her her beautiful laugh caused his heart to contract, not when he already felt a strong affection for the little girl.

“Trick or treat?” she repeated, slowly.

“Umm, sure,” he said, slowly. “Wait here.”

The man disappeared off into the depths of his house, and she felt a little uneasy. She couldn’t see her dad anymore, she didn’t want to lose him in the throngs trick-or-treaters.

“Do you like – umm – Red Vines?” the man said, as he reappeared in the doorway. “I don’t really have anything else.”

“Yep!” she smiled. “They’re my favourite!”

Klaus smiled softly at the little girl.

“My name is Nik. What’s yours?”

“Caroline! I’m here visiting my dad! Halloween is my favourite.”

For some reason Caroline suddenly felt completely comfortable with him and she began rattling off little details of her life her face lighting up, with excitement and joy.

She was exactly his opposite.

She was lightness, and brightness. She was happiness walking.

He was the epitome of death and darkness.

“Caroline?”

Caroline ramblings were interrupted by a male voice

"DADDY!”

"Caroline Forbes! I have been so worried about you! Don't you dare run off like that again! What on earth had you been up to?"

"This is Nik! He gave me Red Vines!”

Bill's expression was a mix of suspicious but also relieved as he looked up to appraise the man a few paces from them.

"Thank you," Bill said, cordially. "Take my eyes off her for one moment, and she’s gone."

"No problem at all, Caroline is quite the charmer,” Klaus replied.

Bill gazed back at Caroline, a starry, proud, affectionate expression gracing his features. He didn’t notice that Klaus was looking at her the same way.

"We better get going, care bear," Bill said. "The parade is about to start.”

“Oh, are you off to the parade?” Klaus asked them.

“Mmhmm,” Caroline replied. “I can’t wait to see the Dance of the Dead! I’ve seen pictures!”

“I’m going to be in the dance,” Klaus smirked.

“Really?” Bill asked, suspiciously. “Why?”

“My family has roots that go back many years in this city.”

“I see.”

“Tell you what, I am supposed to be dancing today, and I’m yet to find a partner. Would you like to be my partner?”

The question was directed at Caroline, and her eyes nearly jumped from her face.

“Really truly!?” Caroline squeaked.

“Really truly,” he repeated.

“Oh, dad!  _ Please _ , can I?”

“I don’t know, Caroline,” Bill said, eying Klaus again.

“ _ Please _ !”

“Mmm, okay,” Bill said.

Caroline squealed some more, and began bouncing on the balls of her feet, and grabbed at Nik’s hand, her dress swirling around her feet. The smile that overtook her face lit up the entire street, and, for the first time in centuries, Klaus found that making someone else happy, actually made him happy too.

Klaus led Caroline toward the parade, Bill following behind, talking once more to Stephen.

Caroline chattered on and on, until her eyes were senses were overloaded, as the New Orleans Halloween spectacle was revealed. Her eyes were as round and large as dinner plates as she took in the insurmountable amount of colours swirling and twirling around her.

“Are you ready?” Nik asked.

Caroline nodded, suddenly speechless, scared by all the faces now watching her.

“I don’t know this dance,” she whispered.

“It’ll be fine, I’m here.”

She nodded and wriggled her little hands into his large ones.

Klaus felt warm.

The music began, the two of them swirled around and around, laughing every time one of them stumbled, smiling every time her feet stood on his. The tempo picked up, and Klaus lifted and twirled the smiling girl around him.

For Klaus, being this close to his mate, there was no one else the could pay attention to. And it broke his heart knowing he would likely never get to be with her.

As the dancing slowed, and the piece came to an end, a smiling Caroline wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed.

“Thank you, Nik. This is the second best Halloween ever.”

“Second best?”

She just smiled at him.

“I better get back to my dad,” she said, yawning.

Klaus knelt down, so his eyes were level to hers. He broke his heart even more, as he considered what he was about to do. He couldn’t have all these people see him with her, and leave her unprotected.

“Caroline,” he said, voice serious. “You will go back to your father, live everyday as the beautiful, strong girl you are. But you won’t remember me. You’ll just remember having a good Halloween with a new friend, Nik. But you won’t come looking for me again.”  

“But why?”

“Because it’s the way it has to be.”

She smiled again, this time dreamily, and she toddled away, leaving Klaus feel a deep sense of loss.

But for one moment, one shining moment, he had the chance to make her smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my read-through-er, I'm sorry I hassled you last minute, but unfortunately, I had a ton of technical issues and I have been very unwell so this was a last minute production. Because of this reason, there will also be a second part. Thanks for reading!


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